Special Projects

Queen’s High School currently has Special Curriculum projects for Thinking, Literacy and Numeracy.

Thinking Strategies and Skills Programme

This programme is compulsory for one term for all year nine students.

The course aims to develop the students’ ability to be a more effective and efficient learners in all their subject areas.

The course covers:

Strategies for generating and organising ideas

Skills required for effective research, including time management

Goal setting and goal achievement, including developing positive habits of mind and learning from mistakes

Different ways and levels of thinking, including metacognitive questions and transferring learning to other contexts

How the brain works and strategies for remembering

Relating to others, including listening, communicating with clarity and recognising perspectives

Literacy

School-wide literacy has been an ongoing focus at Queen’s for more than five years. There is a teacher who has responsibility for literacy in the school and this literacy coordinator has worked with departments and individual departments.

We are continuing to develop and use literacy strategies across the curriculum. Professional development opportunities are offered during the year.

A sample of what has been achieved so far:

Subject vocabulary lists and literacy strategies for effective and accurate text book reading

Daily fifteen minute reading at the beginning of Period 2 in all Year 9 and Year 10 subjects

Promotion of personal reading

Sharing knowledge of good books at assemblies

Volunteer adult tutors work with individual students

Reading challenges

Numeracy

School-wide numeracy is a major focus at Queen's High School, with the aim to have all of our students able to transfer their mathematics skills confidently and successfully across the curriculum.

Future directions: The teacher responsible for school-wide numeracy will work with teachers and departments providing assistance and strategies to use ‘common mathematics’ language across the curriculum.